Automobile Association urges government to scrap e-tolls

The Automobile Association (AA) has called on the government to terminate the Gauteng e-tolls scheme, reimburse those who have been paying over the past nine years and cancel all outstanding toll debt.

The association said after years of delays, government is finally expected to make an announcement on the way forward for e-tolls in Gauteng during Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) in late October.

But, it added, unless government terminates e-tolls, the system will continue to fail.

“Mr Godongwana is now best-placed to deal decisively with e-tolls and scrap the system once and for all. Continuing with e-tolls will yield the same poor results,” said the AA.

Since its introduction in December 2013, the payment of e-tolls for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) has been a contentious issue with many motorists in the province refusing to pay.

Their assertion then, as it is now, is that government must fund the GFIP through other means, possibly ring-fencing of some of the revenue collected through the general fuel levy.

“In our meeting with Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula in August 2019, we communicated our findings that payment compliance is low and that motorists in the province have taken a principled stance not to pay e-tolls,” said the AA.

“Mbalula indicated at that meeting that a decision on the future of e-tolls would be forthcoming the following March.

This never materialised and several dates put forward by him to clarify the future of e-tolls have since come and gone.

“In June this year, Mbalula indicated that Godongwana would clarify the future e-tolls in his MTBPS, a date we trust will be kept.”

The association said the delays in making an announcement on e-tolls cause confusion and contribute to more people refusing to pay.

It said it believed that people who continued to pay e-tolls have since stopped and reports now suggest payment compliance levels to be below 18%, less than half of the reported high compliance rate of 40% in 2014.

“If government keeps the current system in place, it is doomed to fail. Government must allocate funds from existing revenue channels to the GFIP rather than continue to turn to already embattled motorists to finance the system,” said the AA.

The association said it will continue to lobby for the termination of e-tolls through official channels. In addition, it has launched an online petition urging motorists to add their voice to calls for the scrapping of e-tolls.

“Motorists in Gauteng have already cast their vote against e-tolls by not paying. We have launched an online campaign where people can petition the ministers of transport and finance to compel them to reconsider moving forward with e-tolls,” said the AA.

ALSO READ: Fuel price cut may be diverted to state levy to replace e-tolls

– news@citizen.co.za